Table of Contents

Survey of American Prisons and Jails, 1979 (ICPSR 7899)

Principal Investigator(s):
Abt Associates

Summary:

This data collection contains information gathered in a
two-part survey that was designed to assess institutional conditions
in state and federal prisons and in halfway houses. It was one of a
series of data-gathering efforts undertaken during the 1970s to assist
policymakers in assessing and overcoming deficiencies in the nation's
correctional institutions. This particular survey was conducted in
response to a mandate set forth in the Crime Control Act of 1976. Data
were gathered via self-enumerated questionnaires that were mailed to
the administrators of all 558 federal and state prisons and all 405
community-based prerelease facilities in existence in the United
States in 1979. Part 1 contains the results of the survey of state and
federal adult correctional systems, and Part 2 contains the results of
the survey of community-based prerelease facilities. The two files
contain similar variables designed to tap certain key aspects of
confinement: (1) inmate (or resident) counts by sex and by security
class, (2) age of facility and rated capacity, (3) spatial density,
occupancy, and hours confined for each inmate's (or resident's)
confinement quarters, (4) composition of inmate (or resident)
population according to race, age, and offense type, (5) inmate (or
resident) labor and earnings, (6) race, age, and sex characteristics
of prison (or half-way house) staff, and (7) court orders by type of
order and pending litigation. Other data (contained in both files)
include case ID number, state ID number, name of facility, and
operator of facility (e.g., federal, state, local, or private).

This data collection contains information gathered in a
two-part survey that was designed to assess institutional conditions
in state and federal prisons and in halfway houses. It was one of a
series of data-gathering efforts undertaken during the 1970s to assist
policymakers in assessing and overcoming deficiencies in the nation's
correctional institutions. This particular survey was conducted in
response to a mandate set forth in the Crime Control Act of 1976. Data
were gathered via self-enumerated questionnaires that were mailed to
the administrators of all 558 federal and state prisons and all 405
community-based prerelease facilities in existence in the United
States in 1979. Part 1 contains the results of the survey of state and
federal adult correctional systems, and Part 2 contains the results of
the survey of community-based prerelease facilities. The two files
contain similar variables designed to tap certain key aspects of
confinement: (1) inmate (or resident) counts by sex and by security
class, (2) age of facility and rated capacity, (3) spatial density,
occupancy, and hours confined for each inmate's (or resident's)
confinement quarters, (4) composition of inmate (or resident)
population according to race, age, and offense type, (5) inmate (or
resident) labor and earnings, (6) race, age, and sex characteristics
of prison (or half-way house) staff, and (7) court orders by type of
order and pending litigation. Other data (contained in both files)
include case ID number, state ID number, name of facility, and
operator of facility (e.g., federal, state, local, or private).

Access Notes

The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public.
Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.

Study Description

Citation

Abt Associates. Survey of American Prisons and Jails, 1979. ICPSR07899-v2. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 1983. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR07899.v2

Universe:
All state and federal adult confinement institutions and
community-based prerelease facilities in the United States.

Data Type(s):
survey data

Methodology

Sample:
The response rate was 100 percent, although a number of
institutions had to be queried by telephone as a result of their
failure to complete the mailed instrument. In one case, Texas, the
federal court in a civil rights case involving the Department of
Corrections required the Department to complete the questionnaires.

Data Source:

self-enumerated questionnaires, and telephone
interviews

Extent of Processing: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of
disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major
statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to
these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:

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